When We Were Young With Our Corvettes - Chapter 12
Corvettes and Charlie McCarthy – Chapter #12
Do any of you watch Boston Legal? Candice Bergin, I mean.....Shirley Schmidt…before that, Murphy Brown? She was born in 1946, the daughter of Edgar Bergin and…I guess…Charlie McCarthy….and Mrs. Bergin, of course.
In 1965, I had the Vette in Seattle working in our Regional Office there and staying at The Edgewater down on the docks. You could open a window in your room, stick your fishing pole out and fish in Elliot bay! No foolin’. Ask around.
There was a tiny bar upstairs from the lobby that was accessible by stairs only. Tight, cozy and open just at night. We would go there after work….couldn’t hold more than thirty people plus the bartender and a small dance floor with piped-in music. One week-end, we were entertained there by Edgar Bergin, who was moving fast to the end of his show biz career. Only a “sandwich board” at the foot of the steps announced his presence. Even at our young age, you felt such sadness to see this very dignified gentleman reduced to playing “gigs” in a bar like this with no one paying much attention to either he or Charlie. During a break which nobody noticed, he and I started talking, probably because my Dad was such a fan in that earlier time when just a hint of something off color was popular comedy…and Charlie was perfect to deliver the punch:
Charlie: "May I have a kiss good-bye?"
Dale Evans: "Well, I can't see any harm in that!"
Charlie: "Oh. I wish you could. A harmless kiss doesn't sound very thrilling."
Just months earlier, a killer whale named Namu had been captured and brought into captivity, eventually “moored” in a floating pen and put on exhibition further down the docks from The Edgewater. Mr. Bergin had not heard the story but when he did, wanted to see first hand. So the next morning, he and I drove down in the Vette to see Namu.
It was a short drive followed by a short walk. He had never been in a Vette before. I asked him to drive it back which was his event of the year! He was 62 and you could see in his eyes how much he enjoyed our momentary detour in his life. And he knew how to drive a stick. "Bet it's got a “Columbia” clutch", he said. This man knew cars….but old cars….my ’39 Ford Deluxe Coupe with a ’50 Olds Rocket 88 engine and a ’37 Lincoln Zephyr transmission had one. I didn’t have the heart to tell him...he was having fun.
Candice was 19 then and already very much a “free spirit” challenge to him. She was his only child and Frances was his only wife. When departing Sunday, he left me a note, “Bill…thanks for the ride, Edgar”…I mailed it to my Dad, who took such pride in it…but we never found it when we closed the old home place years later.
As John Lennon said…..”Life is what happens….while you’re busy making other plans”….so true! Don’t tarry…get started on those Vettes and follow your dreams in 2009!
Do any of you watch Boston Legal? Candice Bergin, I mean.....Shirley Schmidt…before that, Murphy Brown? She was born in 1946, the daughter of Edgar Bergin and…I guess…Charlie McCarthy….and Mrs. Bergin, of course.
In 1965, I had the Vette in Seattle working in our Regional Office there and staying at The Edgewater down on the docks. You could open a window in your room, stick your fishing pole out and fish in Elliot bay! No foolin’. Ask around.
There was a tiny bar upstairs from the lobby that was accessible by stairs only. Tight, cozy and open just at night. We would go there after work….couldn’t hold more than thirty people plus the bartender and a small dance floor with piped-in music. One week-end, we were entertained there by Edgar Bergin, who was moving fast to the end of his show biz career. Only a “sandwich board” at the foot of the steps announced his presence. Even at our young age, you felt such sadness to see this very dignified gentleman reduced to playing “gigs” in a bar like this with no one paying much attention to either he or Charlie. During a break which nobody noticed, he and I started talking, probably because my Dad was such a fan in that earlier time when just a hint of something off color was popular comedy…and Charlie was perfect to deliver the punch:
Charlie: "May I have a kiss good-bye?"
Dale Evans: "Well, I can't see any harm in that!"
Charlie: "Oh. I wish you could. A harmless kiss doesn't sound very thrilling."
Just months earlier, a killer whale named Namu had been captured and brought into captivity, eventually “moored” in a floating pen and put on exhibition further down the docks from The Edgewater. Mr. Bergin had not heard the story but when he did, wanted to see first hand. So the next morning, he and I drove down in the Vette to see Namu.
It was a short drive followed by a short walk. He had never been in a Vette before. I asked him to drive it back which was his event of the year! He was 62 and you could see in his eyes how much he enjoyed our momentary detour in his life. And he knew how to drive a stick. "Bet it's got a “Columbia” clutch", he said. This man knew cars….but old cars….my ’39 Ford Deluxe Coupe with a ’50 Olds Rocket 88 engine and a ’37 Lincoln Zephyr transmission had one. I didn’t have the heart to tell him...he was having fun.
Candice was 19 then and already very much a “free spirit” challenge to him. She was his only child and Frances was his only wife. When departing Sunday, he left me a note, “Bill…thanks for the ride, Edgar”…I mailed it to my Dad, who took such pride in it…but we never found it when we closed the old home place years later.
As John Lennon said…..”Life is what happens….while you’re busy making other plans”….so true! Don’t tarry…get started on those Vettes and follow your dreams in 2009!
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